Thirty-six sailors set off from Pornichet for the final leg of the 2026 La Solitaire du Figaro Paprec on Sunday evening.
After completing a coastal course of more than five nautical miles around Les Evens and still under the watchful eyes of spectators lining the breakwater, Alexis Thomas (Wings of the Ocean) rounded the buoy off the port of Pornichet in first place, claiming the Paprec Trophy.
He finished ahead of Nicolas Lunven (PRB) and Tom Goron (Xplorassur) at the end of this opening battle in the bay.
Driven by a westerly wind of around 12 knots, the solo sailors are now heading south toward the BXA safe-water mark, located off the Gironde estuary. They will then turn north toward the tip of Brittany.
The competitors are expected to enjoy a relatively manageable first downwind stretch before the arrival of a weather front that will make conditions significantly more challenging. This decisive and potentially hazardous stage is now fully underway.
Although the skippers aim to sail their own race without added pressure, it is highly likely that, somewhere in the back of their minds, they will be closely monitoring their rivals’ AIS tracks.
Top ten after 2 Stages completed
1. IRL Kingspan – Ton Dolan
2. FRA PRB – Nicholas Lunven
3. FRA Wings of the Ocean – Nicholas Lunven
4. FRA Region Bretagne-CMB Espoir – Paul Laiseau
5. FRA Foricher-French Touch – Paul Morven
6. FRA Parec – Martin Le Pape
7. FRA Banque Populaire – Lois Berrehar
8. FRA Sans Nature, pas de Futur! – Adrien Hardy
9. FRA Decathlon – Leo Bothorel
10. FRA Article 1 – Amo Biston
